VIA Rail Derailment: Few accidents in GTA over the years have proved fatal

A look at train derailments in the GTA over the years.

• March 6 2011: A CN Rail freight train en route to Toronto derails near Port Hope, forcing families in 20 houses to leave their homes as a precaution. Some of the cars contained fuel and propane.

• March 30, 2010: Three CN locomotives and nine freight cars leave the tracks near the Pickering GO Transit station. There are no injuries. The train was heading from Vaughan to Montreal.

• Feb. 19 2010: A freight train’s cars go off track near Stevenson Rd. and Highway 401. There are no injuries or serious damage.

• June 5 2009: Hundreds of Oshawa residents are forced to evacuate their homes for 24 hours when 27 railway cars, including a tanker carrying hydrogen peroxide, careen off the tracks and into their neighbourhood.

• Feb. 18, 2008: A broken wheel on one of the cars is believed to have caused 19 cars and tankers to fly off the tracks at King Rd. in Burlington. The accident halted GO and Via service.

• July 13, 2007: A CN freight train derailment leaves about 65,000 GO Transit commuters stranded near the Mimico station. The 129-car freight train went off the tracks in the middle of the afternoon, blocking both east and westbound traffic.

• Jan. 14, 2004: A Canadian Pacific Railway freight train derails at a Whitby overpass killing two women who were driving below the bridge.

• Feb. 6 2001: Two people are injured when an Ontario Northland passenger train jumps the tracks north of Pottery Rd., east of the Bayview extension.

• June 7 1997: Four cars near the end of a 75-car CN freight train jump the rails in Mississauga, closing the busy Lakeshore rail line. There were no injuries.

• April 18, 1996: a westbound CP Rail engine collides with a stopped 89-car train, on the north Toronto subdivision line, just east of Mount Pleasant Rd., along Summerhill Ave. No one is injured but several cars derail.

• March 6 1994: A broken rail causes a 21-car train derailment on the Markham-Scarborough boundary. No one is injured.

• Aug. 19, 1993: A train derailment in the CN Rail yard on Keele St. causes a stretch of Highway 7 to be closed for more than four hours

• July 16 1991: Two tanker cars containing small amounts of dangerous chemicals jump the tracks in Brampton, between Kennedy and Rutherford Rds. There were no injuries.

• March 17 1991: Six locomotives and four boxcars overturn in a Vaughan train yard. Traffic in the Keele St. and Rutherford Rd. area was tied up for more than two hours while fuel was drained from the locomotives.

• May 11, 1990: About 100 people flee their homes after several CP Rail cars collide and derail in the Runnymede Rd. and Dundas St. W. area.

• March 12 1990: A derailed freight train near the Weston GO Transit station forces commuters to take alternate routes.

• Feb. 15 1990: About 34 boxcars and tanker cars from two freight trains derail on a CNR line between McLaughlin Rd. and Chinguacousy Rd. in Brampton. No injuries occur.

• Nov. 1 1989: A freight train derails near Bayview and King St. There are no injuries. Less than 12 hours earlier, a train derails on an overpass between Birchmount Rd. and Warden Ave

• Sept 19, 1985: a CN freight train derails and tears up track on a Greenwood Ave. bridge. The train’s three crew members escaped injury.

• Nov 10, 1979: A Canadian Pacific train derails in Mississauga while en route from Windsor to Agincourt. Of the 24 cars derailed, 19 contained dangerous materials, prompting the evacuation of 220,000 people. It was the largest single peacetime movement of people in Canada

Compiled by Rick Sznajder, Toronto Star Library

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.